Kayaking Abel Tasman ~ New Zealand

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Our plan was to kayak for 2 days, then have a day-hike day, then kayak out. As it turned out, the timing was perfect. Our day-hike day was a soggy mess and nobody was kayaking that day due to wind-induced high surf and messy conditions.

The first day was absolutely stunning. We were dropped off at the far end of the paddle by a water-taxi. Actually 2: one of people and one of kayaks. We paddled upwind a bit further, then explored several bays at high tide. The tide swings are significant at around 12 feet. Remember that bit later… We saw several seals and heaps of nesting and bathing birds.

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The second day was a bit overcast, but still good kayaking weather. The third day was not so nice. Luke and I both went on day hikes, though I missed the intended trailhead and went elsewhere… and my phone got wet inside my raincoat pocket, so in addition to none of the pictures from that day still being on the phone when it recovered (sort of)… the phone spent the next 4 days in rice. Which does work, though I still can’t put it on very brightly or it blacks out. But it works again, so what if I have to use a headlamp to see it?

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The cabin at Anchorage Bay is really nice and also quite new – good for our rainy day of card-playing. The last day we had a bit of a rough start: we went to load the kayaks and they had gone missing. The last high tide was at 6am and had apparently been much higher than the past 3 high tides when I had gone down to check the boats… Luckily they were rounded up by others and beached a bit further down. Whew! Then we had a rocky ride with the left-over wind swell, but despite some sea-sickness… we enjoyed out paddle back to Marahau. It was definitely the adventure part of the kayaking… And there is a good reason that there are no photos of that part!